Cameron knew as soon as his eyes opened and his mind cleared that he'd fucked up.  He wasn't in his room, which meant he wasn't in his house, which meant he'd never gone to see Kith.  He was in someone else's bed, Heather's bed, to be more specific.  He'd slept with Heather. "Fuck," bringing his fist to his mouth, he screamed soundlessly and brought both hands up to rub his aching, red eyes.  It wasn't supposed to happen.  He hadn't meant it.  What the hell was he supposed to tell Kith?  There was no way she didn't notice his nightlong absence.

    Heather had sounded so nice, so sincere last night.  Or maybe that was just how it sounded through drunken ears.  Thinking back, he tried recalling any of what was said.  Bits and pieces about not being appreciated floated to the surface of his memory.  Heather agreed with him, on pretty much everything.  She'd built him up.  Lying there, Cameron knew she hadn't been sincere at all.  She'd been in a manipulative mood and used him to somehow get back at Kith.  This was horrible.  Maybe I don't have to say anything, he considered briefly.

    No.  That was wrong; that was basically like lying to her.  Hopefully none of the guys had seen him leave with Heather.  If any of them had, hopefully they'd been smart enough not to tell Kith.  If he was actually going to be honest, he wanted her to hear it from him, not Nate or Graham or anyone else. "Dammit!" Punching a pillow, he rolled onto his side, quickly searching the floor for his clothes.  They were in a nice pile on the floor.  Throwing her sheets back, he slipped into his boxers and started zipping up his pants.  He felt horrible, like someone had punched him in the stomach and then run away laughing.  This was his fault, all his fault.

    He should've just stayed home.  Kith's fury was nothing compared to what it would be if she found out he'd gotten with Heather.  It wasn't supposed to happen.  Everything Heather said last night sounded so good; she'd comforted him, exactly like she wanted.  And he'd been drunk and thinking about the absence of sex in his life for the last few months.  Those factors combined and caused him to get naked with her.  Closing his eyes, Cameron pressed his brain for any other recollections from the previous night.  That was probably another thing that explained his current situation.  He wanted to be with one girl, but ended up sleeping with another.

    Seizing his shirt, he slipped it over his head.

    "Look who's up," Heather entered the room and set a cup of coffee on her white desk.  Pulling her chair out, she sat down, crossed her legs, and stared at him innocently.

    "This is bullshit and you know it," he said simply, tugging at the hem of his shirt.  Patting his pockets, he checked to make sure he had his keys.  This was already embarrassing.  He didn't want to have to come back because he'd forgotten something.

    "What are you talking about?" she asked stupidly, stirring her steaming drink with a pink spoon.

    "You-Heather!" turning around, he just stared at her. "You tricked me into sleeping with you just to piss Kith off."

    "I didn't trick you," shrugging, she took a slow sip. "You were drunk, Cameron, ridiculously so. I could've gotten you to jump off a bridge if I'd wanted."

    "You manipulated me," he stuck to that defense.

    "You wanted it," rolling her eyes, she scoffed. "Everyone knows that you're not getting any from that pregnant-"

    "Don't," cutting her off, he held up a hand.  Cameron knew exactly what she wanted to say. "Everyone's right. You are fucking insane, Heather. I don't even know what to say right now. Stay away from me, okay? I don't want anything else to do with you."

    "Guess who didn't use a condom last night?"

    Halfway to the door, he stopped, dead.

    That wasn't true.  That couldn't be true.  He'd never been incoherent enough to do that, and he'd had some pretty drunken one night stands.  No.  No, no, no, no, no.  There was no way in hell that was accurate.  That emptiness, that vast guilt, returned to his stomach.  No way.  He was prepared to literally throw himself in front of a bus if he got Heather, of all girls in the world, pregnant.  Swallowing, he maintained his outwardly unruffled reserve and shook his head, refusing to believe anything coming out of her mouth.  Her words were bullets, designed to maim targets and even innocent bystanders.  Cameron was done.  This wasn't happening again.

    "I wouldn't have a kid with you if somebody paid me," he said sharply, stalking down the hallway.

    Thundering down the stairs, he ignored the looks of some of the girls in the house and burst outside.  Thankful for his hoodie, he shook his head and mentally beat himself.  Worst mistake of my life, he thought.  He needed a shower.  Maybe if Kith couldn't smell her, she wouldn't know.  Maybe she was still annoyed with him, so she wouldn't ask any questions about his whereabouts.  Cameron didn't want to say anything.  He was willing to do almost anything instead of tell her.

    Entering the house, he slammed the door shut and jogged upstairs.  Without bothering to check if she was in his room, he barged in and just stood there as she looked up from the bed.  Kith didn't look surprised to see him.  She didn't look ready to start some sort of investigation.  Swallowing, he tapped his fingers against the wood of his doorway.   They stared at one another, like two deer who'd stumbled upon each other in the forest.  Overcome with a lack of explanation, Cameron wondered what he looked like through her eyes.

    "Need to get a shower," grabbing the necessary things, he all but ran from the room and disappeared into one of the closet-sized shower stalls.  Kith didn't know.  He said that to himself over and over as warm water raced down his shoulders and over his head.  Kith didn't know; how the hell would she?  He'd come home, fully dressed.  He could've been out-not having sex with someone.  No one in the house had better said anything to her if they had actually witnessed his departure last night.  Paranoia and anxiety flooded his veins, making it impossible to stand still for more than a few seconds. "Goddammit, man...."

    A whole twenty-four hours passed.

    With Kith out of the house, Cameron decided to corner Nate before they went their separate ways for class.

    "I need to talk to you."

    "About?" Nate raised an eyebrow.

    "I fucked up," Cameron began. "Really badly."

    Nate ran his eyes over Cameron's face and then asked slowly, "How?"

    Glancing around the room, Cameron stalked over to the doorway of the kitchen and searched back and forth, wanting to be absolutely certain that no one else was within earshot.  He didn't have to worry about Kith hearing because she was an hour away. "I slept with Heather," he admitted, covering his mouth as soon as Nate reacted.

    Jaw dropping, Nate threw his hands out in Cameron's direction. "What?" he hissed. "How the hell did that happen?"

    "I don't know," Cameron answered, panic evident in his voice. "Well, I mean, I got really drunk."

    "And you slept with her?" Nate's voice went up.

    "Shh!" Cameron motioned for him to lower his voice.

    "Are you fucking stupid?!" Nate gave him a look.

    "I didn't mean to!" That was the best he could come up with.  There was no going back and changing anything. "I wasn't even supposed to go to anything Ball related. Kith and I got into an argument and I came down here to study, but I couldn't focus on anything."

    "So you decided that getting drunk and banging your crazy ex-girlfriend was the solution?"

    "She was never my girlfriend," Cameron said calmly.

    "I don't think that's the part you should be focused on," Nate countered, leaning against the wall. "You had sex with Heather. Kith's gonna kill you."

    "I thought you said Kith wasn't gonna care."

    "Of course she's gonna care!" Nate stared at him like he was the most incompetent man on the planet. "You got her pregnant! She's living in your room! Of course she's gonna care if you're out hooking up with other girls, especially Heather! And didn't we say that she was the best girl to happen to you! You have-excuse me-had your shit together and now look!"

    "I know," groaning, Cameron rest his head in his hands.  That was the worst part; he'd been doing so well. "I know, I know, I know. It wasn't supposed to happen."

    "Have you told her?"

    "No."

    "Are you gonna tell her?"  

    "I don't know," Cameron confessed. "I don't want to, but I feel like I should. But I don't know. I don't want her to hate me more than she already does."

    "Kith doesn't hate you."

    "I kind of yelled at her during the argument, and then I stormed out," Cameron revealed.

    "Someone else might tell her," Nate pointed out.

    "No one else would do that," Cameron said confidently, rocking back and forth on his heels. "I feel like such an asshole, man. At the party, I told Heather to take me to Kith."

    "You trusted her to bring you home to the girl she hates?" Nate wrinkled his forehead. "You're an idiot. You're so stupid, Cameron."

    "I know!" groaning louder, he could do nothing but agree. "She's never going to consider me now."

    "You want to be with her?"

    "Of course I want to be with her!" It was Cameron's turn to give Nate the dumb-look. "Now I'll be lucky if she even looks at me. Dammit! I was doing-everything was fucking perfect! Why?!"

    "You know you have to tell her," Nate said after a few minutes of Cameron's wallowing.

    "Yeah," Cameron concurred. "I don't want to though." This had never been a problem before.  He'd never had to answer to anyone else.  Technically, he didn't have to say anything.  She frequently constantly made comments about them not being together, which meant in her mind, she wasn't his girlfriend.  But he didn't want to be like that.  He liked her; they were in the whole pregnancy situation together.  It was the right thing to do.  She might hate him, but she'd hate him even more if she happened to find out from someone else.

    "I have to get to class," Nate clapped him on the back. "But I'm sure everything will be fine. Kith doesn't seem like the kind of girl to go all out and hate you. She might get upset, but you gotta deal."

    "I know," Cameron said sadly.

    Nate gave him one more conciliatory pat and left.

Kith noticed Cameron's strange behavior but remained silent.  After their fight, he hadn't come upstairs.  She'd gone downstairs several times, each time pretending to ignore his existence.  She'd wanted him to say something, call her over, but he didn't.  With each hour she abandoned a little more hope that they were going to end up speaking before going to bed.  So, she ended up watching videos on her laptop to feel less alone.

    Kith also knew that Cameron had slept with Heather.  No one had to tell her.  She knew because Cameron never came back upstairs.  Regardless of what they ever ended up arguing about, he always came back to his room and slept on the floor.  That was the signal that, in spite of everything, they were still fine.  That hadn't happened.  She also figured it out from the guilty face he struggled to mask the following morning.  Suddenly needing to shower, while still in the previous day's clothes, also didn't do much to help his case.

    And Kith didn't say anything.  Cameron didn't bring it up.  During their hour-long ride to school, he didn't mention anything out of the ordinary.  And it wasn't like she could get mad at him.  If he wanted to hook up with Heather, he could go out and do it.  Why would Cameron, one of the most attractive guys on campus, choose a girl bearing a stomach the size of a small beach ball over Heather?  No one in their right mind would do that. It was actually kind of funny that he thought she didn't know.

    "Hey, Kith," Cameron dropped his backpack upon entering the room.  She looked up from her homework. "The guys want you to come downstairs."

    "Why?"

    "I don't know," he shrugged. "They're all sitting in the lounge. It's actually kind of creepy."

    Uncrossing her legs, she slid to the edge of the bed and rose awkwardly.

    "Do you—" Cameron stepped forward like he was going to help her, but then stepped back once he realized she was fine.  Dropping his hands to his sides, he rubbed down the sides of his thighs and glanced round the room. "I guess...."

    "Yeah," tugging at the bottom of her sweater, she pointed towards the door. "Are you coming?"

    Staring at her uncertainly for a moment, Cameron considered it. "Yeah," he said finally.

    "Are you sure you don't know what it is?" Narrowing her eyes, she stared at him, hard.

    "No bullshit," he held up his hands. "I don't know what they're doing or what they want. Graham just told me to come get you."

    Accepting that answer, Kith walked down the hall, down the stairs, and into the lounge.  Seated around the room on the numerous couches and chairs, and posted against the walls, were the boys of the frat.  Suspicious, Kith glanced back and forth, unsure of what exactly she was supposed to do with all of them watching.

    "Welcome to your baby shower!" Graham said excitedly, hands in the air.

    "What?"

    "Your baby shower," he repeated happily, directing her to an open space on the couch.  Once she was seated, everyone pulled out gift bags and large, wrapped boxes.  Cameron appeared a few seconds later and froze in the doorway, presenting the same confused expression. "Come join your girlfriend's baby shower."

    "Baby shower?" Cameron wrinkled his forehead.

    "Yeah," Nate nodded. "We know that girls usually do this, but we're here, so."

    "You guys didn't have to," raking fingers through his hair, Cameron remained standing in the doorway, dumbstruck.  Kith watched him briefly before tentatively accepting the first bag, a blue one with yellow tissue paper.  From it, she pulled out three onesies, each a different color, all bearing the letter 'T'.

    "Awww." She couldn't help it.  They were too cute.  How did they even know the baby's name?  She concluded that Cameron must have mentioned it.  He told them pretty much everything.

    "Mine's better," Ty shoved another bag in front of her.  Intrigued, Cameron stalked in.

    "Move over," Graham motioned for Ty to scoot. "Let the couple sit together."

    Rolling his eyes, Ty got up and sat on the floor, allowing Cameron to flop down on the couch next to Kith.  Kith opened Ty's gift to reveal bottles and pacifiers with fire trucks on them.  Suppressing another sound of delight, she managed a slow smile.  Opening bag after bag, she acquired more clothes, bottles, jars of baby food, socks, and shoes small enough to fit in her palm.  Moving onto the boxes, she revealed a high chair, an enormous supply of diapers, cans of formula, and a car seat.

    "I got that one," Nate pointed to it proudly. "That was me, guys."

    Pressing her lips together, Kith stared at the piles of baby gear before her, all things she never could've afforded on her own, or even with Cameron's assistance.  It was a beautiful sight.  They had a base, something to work with.  Tristan wasn't going to come into the world with absolutely nothing, all because Cameron's frat brothers were the nicest people on the planet.  Tears unwillingly leaked down her face.

    "Wait, why are you crying?" someone asked, alarmed.

    "Hormones," someone whispered.

    "I'm just... this is so nice," fanning her hands before her face, she struggled to breathe and dry her tears. "So nice...."

    "You're having a boy," Graham commented. "A legacy for Alpha Chi Epsilon."

    "And if you're gonna be stuck with this kid-"one of the guys clapped their hands down on Cameron's shoulders-"you'll need a few things."

    "Yeah, you could've done better, Kith," Nate said simply.

    "Way better," someone chimed in.

    "But you chose Cameron, and you live here, which makes you an honorary member of our house."

    Rubbing her eyes, Kith managed a smile.  For the first time in a long time, she felt loved and she felt like belonged.  Even by the guys she'd never really spoken to.  They'd gone out and spent their money on her.  Her baby wasn't their problem, their issue, their concern.  But they'd bought her gifts and thrown her a makeshift baby shower.  They were good guys, all of them. "I thought all frat guys were assholes. I really can't say anything else besides thank you. I really appreciate this. You don't understand..."

    "The assholes are down the street," Ty smirked. "We're some of the greatest guys on campus."

    "Where are we gonna put all this?" she turned to Cameron.

    "Keep it in here," Nate answered, standing up to survey the room. "We can move some things around."

D'aw.